1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for guiding elongated items such as cables, wires, cords and the like and, more particularly, relates to devices and methods for guiding and temporarily holding cables, wire and the like during a cabling or wiring installation procedure.
2. Background Information
The process of installing cables, wires and/or other elongated items (collectively, ‘cables’) for audio, video and/or other applications such as television, the Internet, telephone, intercoms, fiber optic and the like, as well as power and other electricity-based applications (collectively, “applications”) within a building (i.e. ‘cabling’) is a time consuming job. Particularly, cables must be physically strung throughout the building from one location to another location. Even for just one application, numerous cables must be run from one or more locations to one or more destinations. When multiple applications are being installed concurrently, there is a great increase in the number of cables, making the cable installation unwieldy as well as time consuming.
With the typical cabling process, individual cables are manually run from one building location to another building location and then temporarily hung or held until transferred to permanent cable holders or otherwise permanently mounted. In order to facilitate this process, various devices have been proposed to hold and/or help guide cables being installed. These devices are known as cable blocks, cable hangers, cable guides, pulley blocks or a combination of such terms (collectively, “cable blocks”). Such cable blocks allow a cable to be manually received therein, be guided thereby while the cable is being moved through the cable block, and then be manually removed from the cable block when desired. Some cable blocks, such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,315,269 issued to Fleury et al. on Nov. 13, 2001 and 6,540,207 issued to Barnes on Apr. 1, 2003, utilize a frame that supports a single roller for accepting and guiding a cable received therein. Each frame is configured to hang on an overhead wire or the like and includes a spring or spring-loaded mechanism to allow insertion and removal of a cable therein. These types of cable blocks are generally acceptable for use in straight or linear installations of cable, but are deficient for non-linear cable installations (i.e. around corners, bends and the like). Moreover, it is necessary with these cable guides to manually remove the cable or cables from their single roller cable block frame. Thus, it is necessary to physically go to each cable block in order to manually remove the cable from the cable block. Therefore, these types of cable blocks do not save cable installation time nor do they ease the cable installation process.
As another design and/or in order to overcome some of the limitations of single roller and other similar cable blocks such as those described above, some cable blocks have four rollers that define a rectangular opening bounded by the four rollers. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,483,760 issued to Duncan on Oct. 4, 1949 (“Duncan”), 3,070,355 issued to Wyatt on Dec. 25, 1962 (“Wyatt”), and 6,729,606 issued to Durin on May 4, 2004 (“Durin”) each disclose a four roller cable guide. However, Duncan, Wyatt and Durin, as well as other similar four roller cable guides, are not designed for easy removal (if removal at all) of cables from the cable guide. With these types of cable guides, the cables must be manually removed longitudinally from the cable guide (i.e. by a free end of the cable).
In order to alleviate the shortcomings of such multi-roller cable guides and/or to provide a cable guide that allows easy access to its interior several styles of multi-roller cable guides have been devised. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,949,279 issued to Eitel on Aug. 16, 1960 (“Eitel”), a four-roller configuration cable guide has a top roller that pivots relative to the other three rollers. Thus, the top roller swings out of the way for placing a cable therein and removing a cable therefrom in order to provide a top-loading cable guide. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,946,559 issued to Pickett on Jul. 26, 1960 (“Pickett”), another four-roller, top-loading cable guide is provided. However, with Pickett, the top and two side rollers are all pivotally connected to a base that holds the bottom roller.
Thus, the three-roller assemblage swings out of the way for placing a cable therein and removing a cable therefrom, thereby providing another top-loading (and top un-loading) cable guide. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,226 issued to Smith on Nov. 12, 1996 (“Smith”), another multi-roller cable guide is provided. In Smith, two angled frame members each support two rollers. The two angled frame members are pivotally connected to each other to provide a releasable opening that allows access to the interior of the cable guide. Again, as with the other cable guides, the Smith cable guide is configured for manual placement and removal of cable into the interior of the cable guide.
It is thus apparent from the above discussion that prior art cable guides do not promote the efficient overhead installation of cable within a building. It is also apparent from the above discussion that prior art cable guides lack features that allow for efficient overhead cable installation within a building. Particularly, it is apparent from the above discussion that prior art cable guides lack automation that allows for efficient overhead cable installation within a building.
In view of the above, it is thus desirable to provide a cable guide that allows for the efficient overhead installation of cable within a building. It is further desirable to provide a cable guide that utilizes automation to aid in the cable installation process. It is moreover desirable to provide a process for the overhead installation of cable within a building that utilizes automated cable guides.